There are numerous types of conveyor rollers systems that have been proposed. Most of these conveyor roller systems consist of a continuous belt or conveyor media which travels over a series of rollers. The rollers may be simple shafts having a cylindrical support surface or more advanced drums which use enclosed and sealed drive rollers with drive motors contained inside the rollers themselves.
Such rollers can be covered with a multitude of materials that are attached by various methods. The covering which is sometimes referred to as lagging is used to increase the co-efficient of friction between the conveyor roller and the belt, reduce the wear on the conveyor roller and the conveyor belt, and in some cases effect a self-cleaning action as particularized in U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,202.
The most commonly used lagging is made of elastomeric components, which are bonded and cured by vulcanization, to the roller and extend around the roller. Other common methods of attaching the lagging materials to the roller include bolting, painting, cementing, or spraying. Again, all as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,202.
The lagging thickness can vary from a few thousandths of an inch with sprayed on coatings to a considerable thickness as with some rubber vulcanized coatings.
In some of the prior art devices the lagging material exhibits a multiplicity of longitudinally spaced drive surfaces with helical grooves formed in the lagging material as for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,202.
In other cases fiberglass reinforced polyester can be used as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,444.
Still other patents disclose the use of spiraling coiled wire ribbing having a wave form as particularized in U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,414.
Other prior art devices and methods utilize both a left hand and right hand helical thread to aid in the aligning of a belt around the rollers such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,414.
Furthermore the use of urethane compounds or the like to form the right and left hand threads of an idle roller are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,661,246.
Other arrangements and methods of producing rollers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,205,893, 4,723,646 and 1,980,777.
It is an object of this invention to provide a improved roller for a conveyor system and method of producing same.
It is an aspect of this invention to provide for a roller for a conveyor comprising, a cylindrical core defining a support surface, a helical groove disposed in the support surface, and lagging bonded to the support surface. In one aspect the lagging comprises urethane.
It is another aspect of this invention to provide a roller for a conveyor comprising, a drum defining a support surface having a generally cylindrical shape with an axis of rotation, a helical groove disposed in the support surface, urethane bonded to the helical groove disposed on said support surface.
It is another aspect of this invention to provide a method of coating a roller comprising, rotating the roller, applying urethane unto an outer support surface of the rotating roller while axially moving the urethane to coat the roller, and curing the urethane.
These and other objects of the invention shall now be described in relation to the following drawings.